Herbivore by Locavore

Verdict

Herbivore by Locavore earns its place on the Opinionated About Dining Leading Restaurants in Asia list; ranked #255 in 2024 after a Highly Recommended nod in 2023; and it is one of the more focused dinner options in Ubud for food-oriented travelers who want something beyond standard Balinese fare. Chef Kel Zaguire brings a Filipino culinary perspective to a Bali address, which is a genuinely rare pairing in this part of Indonesia. If you are building a serious dining itinerary in Ubud, this belongs on it. Booking is easy relative to the OAD recognition it carries, which makes it accessible in a way that some of its competitors on Jalan Dewisita are not.

The Restaurant

Herbivore sits on Jalan Dewisita No.10 in central Ubud, close enough to the main strip that you can walk from most guesthouses, but the street itself carries a quieter energy than Jalan Raya Ubud. The ambient feel here is measured rather than loud, expect a room that settles into a calm, considered register rather than the high-energy buzz you would find at a bar-forward venue. That makes it a reasonable call for a late evening meal when you want conversation to remain easy and the atmosphere to slow down rather than accelerate. For travelers who have been to Locavore NXT or Nusantara By Locavore, the other venues in the Locavore group, the tone here is consistent with that group's overall positioning: deliberate, ingredient-focused, without the tourist-facing performativity of some Ubud dining rooms.

The Filipino angle from Chef Zaguire is the differentiator worth paying attention to. Filipino cuisine is underrepresented in Bali's restaurant scene, internationally it remains less explored than Thai or Vietnamese counterparts despite a sophisticated tradition of layered acidity, fermentation, slow-cooked technique. If you have eaten at Kasama in Chicago or Hapag in Makati, both serious Filipino-led operations, you will arrive at Herbivore with useful context. This is not a carbon copy of those formats, but the shared culinary lineage gives you a frame of reference for what Zaguire is working with and what the kitchen prioritizes.

It also means walk-in risk is lower than at a smaller venue with fewer data points, though checking ahead for any closures remains sensible given that hours are not confirmed in the current data.

As a late-evening option in Ubud, Herbivore has a practical advantage: the pace and tone of the room suit a post-activity dinner rather than demanding the attentive formality of a tasting-menu setting. Ubud's dining scene rewards planning, venues like Mozaic require weeks of advance booking and a structured commitment to a multi-course format. Herbivore offers OAD-recognized quality without that level of pre-planning obligation, which is genuinely useful for itineraries that are still taking shape.

For context on the wider Bali dining circuit: Apéritif Restaurant and Bar and Sarong Bali in Canggu operate at a higher price tier with more formal service architecture. Ibu Oka serves a completely different purpose, daytime, casual, Balinese-specific. Moksa in Bali covers plant-forward territory if that is a priority. Herbivore's OAD credential puts it in a distinct tier from most of the island's mid-range options. If you are also spending time in Jakarta, August in Jakarta and Kahyangan in Gondangdia are worth noting as reference points for the broader Indonesian fine-dining conversation. And if Jimbaran is on your route, Rumari offers a different coastal register entirely.

For planning beyond this restaurant, see our full Ubud restaurants guide, our Ubud hotels guide, our Ubud bars guide, our Ubud wineries guide, and our Ubud experiences guide. The SKOOL Kitchen in Badung is also worth a look if your itinerary extends beyond Ubud's central corridor.

Ratings at a Glance

• OAD Asia Ranking: #255 (2024), Highly Recommended (2023)
• Booking Difficulty: Easy
• Cuisine: Filipino, Chef Kel Zaguire
• Address: Jl. Dewisita No.10, Ubud, Bali 80571

Booking and Practical Details

Booking here is direct by Ubud fine-dining standards, this is not a venue where you need to plan weeks in advance the way you would for Mozaic or Nusantara By Locavore. The restaurant's address on Jalan Dewisita is accessible on foot from central Ubud. Confirm hours directly with the venue before arrival, as current data does not include confirmed service times. Price range information is not confirmed in current data; arriving with a mid-to-upper-mid budget expectation appropriate to an OAD-listed venue is a sensible baseline. For groups or special occasions, contact the venue directly to confirm capacity and seating arrangements.